A wonderful afternoon at the Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day (18 Aug 2018)

Did you see us at the Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day (18 Aug 2018)?
It was the first time that the NUS Biodiversity Crew (Dr Amy Choong & Xu Weiting) and Life Sciences Society (LSS) undergraduates participated in this alumni family day.

The guests were a diverse lot – visitors, exchange students, current students and alumni from other faculties and ex-students visited the booth. They were drawn to the booth by the games designed by LSS and intrigued by the specimens we brought along to share stories about – a common palm civet specimen, cocoa and coffee plants. Visitors learnt about pedigree and genetics through the games and discovered more about civets and the tragic link with kopi luwak.

That evening, NUS President Tan Eng Chye graced the event and visited the booths. We warmly welcomed him with civet stories and he was intrigued that NUS also has civets.

We enjoyed ourselves so the four-hours passed by rather quickly as the team made the effort to interact with as many visitors as possible. They in turn enjoyed learning about the new things that are happening at the Department of Biological Sciences in NUS’ Faculty of Science.

Special thanks to all the LSS volunteers (Genevieve Tang, Nicholas Yeo, Leanne Teh, Wong Zhi Wei, Benjamin Tan, Loshini D/O Sunthar, Nicholas Seng & Muhammad Faiq), Fatin Nadzirah Bte Zahari, Tan Xing Zhi for manning the booth. And Mrs Ang-Lim Swee Eng, Mr Kaka Singh and Mr Ismail Bin Arshad for helping to take the plant photos and to collect the plant specimens.

A Chat about Research in NUS Biological Sciences (Mon 25 Sep 2017: 6.30pm @ S2-04 SR1)

The event is an informal discussion about research in NUS that might be useful for students thinking ahead toward internship, UROPS, FYP, or graduate studies.

Three graduate students, representing research labs in Environmental Biology & Biomedical Sciences will share their research experiences.

Join them on Mon 25 Sep 2017: 6.30pm – 7.30pm @ S2-04 Seminar Room 1 (Blk S2 Level 4)

Do indicate your interest so that we know how many students to expect – tinyurl.com/chalk2017.

If you have any other queries, feel free to email Jerome Kok (jeromekok@u.nus.edu).

Calling EVB Honours students: Stand by poster at the Evening of Biodiversity! (Wed 16 Apr 2014 @ LT25)

Dear honours students,

You must be celebrating after submitting your thesis!

Well, now we want to share your work with the community at large, and have them hear from you directly!

If you can stand by poster at the Evening of Biodiversity [advert] on Wed 16th Apr 2014: 6.00pm at LT25, sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/eob2014-poster by Monday morning and then turn up at LT25 next Wednesday at 5.30pm.

We picked this date actually because you would have a very strong grasp of your subject matter now and would have cleared most assignments deadlines by now!

This will be a good occasion to awareness about research and labs in the department – 177 people have registered so far and about 35% are students. We expect to welcome some 200 people eventually. We will email participants the list of posters and share this information here on the NUS Biodiversity Crew webpage.

You will also be asked to indicate if interested to share your posters at these events:

1. Faculty of Science Open House (May; at Lab 7),
2. Alumni Day (June; Lab 7)
3. Festival of Biodiversity (July)

These are LKCNHM Toddycats will be a great opportunity to communicate about science.

We do not do this every year, so it would be great opportunity for this cohort come and enjoy the interaction and atmosphere at this event.

Cheerio!

Sivasothi

Registration is now open for LSM4263 – Field Studies in Biodiversity (deadline 07 Jun 2013)

Photo from drowgirl@Flickr

Message from Life Sciences Undergraduate Program Committee, 22 April 2013:

“Dear students,

Registration is now open for LSM4263 – Field Studies in Biodiversity, Special Term IV.

Registration ends 07 June 2013.

This 4MC module will be conducted in Semester IV, AY2012-13. Though a detailed timetable will be available later, class begins Tuesday 25 June and ends Fri 26 July 2013.

To qualify, students must be:

• continuing into their Honours year in AY2013/14
• concentrating in Environmental Biology and
• possess a CAP of 3.5 or above
• expected to cover part of the module cost (not amounting more than SGD400).

 

The field trip is scheduled to be on Thurs 11 July to Wed 17 July 2013.

Class size is limited to 30 students and preference given to students with Biodiversity (LSM1103) and Ecology (LSM2251).

To register, complete the form at 

http://tinyurl.com/LSM4263-June2013-Registration

The list of successful applicants will be announced after the release of final examination results.

Best wishes,
Life Sciences Undergraduate Program Committee
http://www.lifesciences.nus.edu.sg“

Chloe Tan’s three months in the Philippines begins on Earth Day!

Chloe Tan did her honours thesis on the “Diversity and distribution of small mammals across forested and urban areas in Singapore” and graduated determined to work in conservation directly.

She is one of several students who wish to contribute to regional efforts to protect and conserve. Since a job is not immediately available, getting involved as a volunteer is an excellent way to learn the ropes and be at the right place when an opportunity presents itself.

Chloe has been looking since she graduated last semester and thanks to Ng Bee Choo, wrote me recently with some wonderful news:

“Hi Siva,

I’ll be a volunteer on the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Programme (PBCP) under the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. (PBCFI).

For this three month stint (22 Apr to 22 Jul), I’ll be in the field helping out with biodiversity surveys, working in breeding and rescue centers in Negros and Panay, and possibly assisting with threatened species reintroduction projects on Negros, Panay and Cebu Islands.

Negros, Panay and Cebu, together with Masbate, make up the West Visayas – a region of PBCFI considers a conservation priority. The long-term goal of the PBCP is to establish a continuously developing network of Local Conservation Areas (LCAs) in the country.

For the first week in the Philippines, I’ll be helping [Ng] Bee Choo at the 6th International Hornbill Conference in Manila. During which I will meet the PBCP field personnel and firm up my itinerary, then tag along as they return to the field sites.

Thanks Siva!”

Happy Earth Day Chloe! Thanks for helping to make the world a better place!

Registration is now open for LSM4263 – Field Studies in Biodiversity (deadline 30 May 2012)

Message from Life Sciences Undergraduate Program Committee, 5 March 2012:

“Dear students,

Registration is now open for LSM4263 – Field Studies in Biodiversity, Special Term IV.

Registration ends 30 May 2012.

This 4MC module will be conducted in Semester IV, AY2011-12. Though a detailed timetable will be available later, class begins Mon 18 June and ends Fri 20 July, 2012.

To qualify, students must be:
– continuing into their Honours year in AY2012/13;
– concentrating in Environmental Biology or Specializing in Biology and;
– possess a CAP of 3.5 or above;
– expected to cover part of the module cost (not amounting more than SGD400).

The field trip is tentatively scheduled on Tue 3 July 2012.

Class size is limited to 30 students and preference given to students with Biodiversity (LSM1103) and Ecology (LSM2251).

To register, complete the form at http://www.tinyurl.com/lsm4263-2012

The list of successful applicants will be announced after the release of final examination results.

Best wishes,
Life Sciences Undergraduate Program Committee
http://www.lifesciences.nus.edu.sg”

Photo from drowgirl@Flickr

Hons student Ouyang Xiuling is an NUS SPARKZ 2012 finalist!

Sparkz is “an annual talent show that provides a platform for all NUS students to showcase their talents”. This year, the line up of 12 finalists includes biodiversity honours student Ouyang Xiuling. When she’s not out in the forest dealing with her experiments, she has been singing!

On 28 Jan 2012, they battle it out at the main event at the NUS Shaw Foundation Alumni House! It’s a sold-out event, but there should be news on their facebook page.

Congratulations Xiuling! This took lots of courage; all the best for the finale and no stage fright! *fingers crossed* Remember, just look at the audience and think of your specimens!

Click the link to find out more

Red crab spiders prey on dipteran larvae in slender pitchers – Trina’s honours research published in the Journal of Tropical Ecology

It is known that the crab spiders forage in tropical pitcher plant cups for insect larvae. However, no experimental studies had been conducted until Trina Chua (Hons 2009/10) worked on aspects of this ecology for her honours year project, supervised by Matthew Lim.

Through in-situ and ex-situ experiments during her honours year, Trina’s research illustrates the aquatic foraging ability of the terrestrial red crab spider (Misumenops nepenthicola) as well as its ability to alter dipteran larval abundance (including those of mosquitoes) in the slender pitcher plant Nepenthes gracilis.

The results are amongst the first to reveal the influence of a terrestrial phytotelm forager on the abundance of pitcher organisms via direct predation. The yellow crab spider, Thomisus nepenthiphilus, however, did not appear to play such a role.

The paper was published online last week as: Chua, T. J. L. & M. L. M. Lim, 2011. Cross-habitat predation in Nepenthes gracilis: the red crab spider Misumenops nepenthicola influences abundance of pitcher dipteran larvae. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 28(01): 97-104.

Part of what Chua & Lim (2011) did for the field study.

Congratulations to them both! You can find out the details at the abstract page in the Journal of Tropical Ecology

Trina and her honours year project supervisor, Matthew Lim

LSM4263 Field Studies in Biodiversity in June 2011: Registration open

Visit http://tinyurl.com/lsm4263-2011reg

Trina Chua says of 1st year, “I was not prepared for such a stressful education in university.”

“Looking back at Year 1”
by Trina Chua,
Honours Class, 2009/10

“When I think of Year 1, I think of stress, stress and more stress. It has not changed much over the past three years but one thing has definitely changed – how I handle the stress.

Unlike many of my university peers, I did not take the conventional route of going to Junior College after my O Levels and then continuing to university. Instead I graduated from polytechnic and optimistically started the first day of school in NUS in August 2006. Optimism slowly faded away during the first lecture! The words in the lecture notes looked like Arabic to me and everything just seemed so new although the lecturer re-iterated during class that ‘all of you should already know this since you’ve studied it in JC’.

I started to panic. Not a day passed without me worrying about the various modules. The only thing that made me feel just slightly better was the fact that I was not alone. My friends in NUS and other universities were as stressed about school work as I was and in one extreme case, a friend quit university! Similar thoughts crept into my mind but I told myself to go on…you’ll get used to it!

My parents started to worry about me when they saw me taking one too many snoozes on the study table and looking weary too often. Basically, I was not prepared for such a stressful education in university.

But before I knew it, there I was, enjoying my Honours year, and grateful for not giving up in the first year. Honestly, it becomes wayyyyyyyy better after you pass the first year mark as you’ll get used to it! First year is the time when you adjust to the new environment and find out which is the best way for you to excel in your studies! Get yourself involved in extra-curricular activities to give yourself a break from work or you will just burn out.

Most importantly, although grades are very important, enjoy your university life!”

Trina Chua rescuing horseshoe crabs @ Mandai Besar mudflat, 07 Sep 2010

Trina did research work with mudskippers in her 3rd year, spiders in her honours year, played squash for NUS and after participating in several mangrove cleanups, became a Site Captain with the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore this year.